>This auction brings to mind old folks' sayings such as;
>
>(1) All that glitters is not gold! (or words to that effect) AND
>
>(2) Caveat emptor !
I don't think the auction misrepresented the bike. In fact, the description talked about a flat tire (or some other small defect) that hardly would matter if it was seen as a superb, rare, valuable machine. There is no indication that the seller expected to get a lot of money.
The photos clearly showed what the buyer was getting. I did not see the glitter. The final price was far lower than anybody would expect for a "true" handmade Alex Singer.
Sure, somebody may have put a premium of 100-200 Euros for the name on the down tube, but that was an attractive bike in its own way. If you wanted a complete collection of every type of bicycle sold by the Singer shop, this one would be a good example. The Japanese Rene Herse book shows a kid's bike that clearly was modified by Herse (it has Herse brakes), but that does not look like it was made at the shop...
A BMW collector may want an Isetta bubble car or one of the little motorcycle-engined 700 convertibles to round off the collection, but few people will buy one and think they are getting a BMW 507 sports car at a huge discount. If people can't tell the difference, then that is their problem.
Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com